Basil Rathbone was an actor who lived during the 20th century. A hound reminded Winston Churchill of something from one of his films. (AUDIO: Hounded)
Behind the scenes
The movie being referred to is The Hound of the Baskervilles where he played Sherlock Holmes.
In the real world, his image was used to depicted Sherlock Holmes on the cover of the Virgin New Adventures novel All-Consuming Fire.